reading 2008

Whether read for the first time or re-read for the tenth; whether flaunted for the literary street cred or shamefully hidden inside the dust jacket of a Norman Mailer; please find enclosed the complete list of books read in 2008. Updated as needed.

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The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud (feb)
Delicious. Satisfying in the way of a well prepared meal, and this book is well prepared. Her writing is a smooth, aged scotch. Is sophisticated and beautiful and glowing warm once inside you. Frank, honest; you find pieces of yourself in every character as much as you may wish you didn't.

Rule of the Bone by Russel Banks (feb)
(reread.) Because it's that good. Because at one point in my life I could have written this and the words, the tone, the style all would have been the same he captures disenfranchised youth so well here. Because these words, this tone, this style IS exactly what my brother would write right now. I made Cameron finally read it and he freaked out only two pages in, called me immediately to ask if he'd stepped into a Twilight Zone episode in which he was reading a book he himself had written sometime in the future. I didn't have an answer for him.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (jan)
Well it isn't bad. I'll be honest, I was watching 30 Rock and Tina Fey made a joke about not having read this book and I thought "you know I haven't read it either." So then there it was at the used book store near my apt and the owner behind the counter said yes read it, it's moving and well written and a tear-jerker. Well. I don't know about any of that. But it's got it's moments, I guess. And it's a quick, easy read of a book.

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonthan Lethem (jan)
(reread) Jonathan Lethem is the man and this book is just about his best. There is a dry honesty in the way that he writes every single damn word that I both admire and long for in other writing. Here he's got the detective genre down (stand back Phillip Marlowe, here comes your 21st Century, postmodern replacement). He's funny and he's true and he writes every one of his books much like how my head thinks. I have to believe I'm not alone in that. Here is proof.

Zeroville be Steve Erickson (jan)
Made me like Los Angeles. I can't think of another book in recent memory that's affected me so powerfully as that. The book literally made me enjoy living in this city and that's quite the feat. I will keep recommending Steve Erickson (an entirely underrated writer), and this novel of his in particular, until I’m blue in the face. It's fantastic. Simple as that. It's Hollywood's version of Being There. It's cinema's version of Genesis.